Wallflowers
by goldenspecter
Summary: Clockwork's living her best life, which is mostly just working herself to death. Cue the midlife crisis and a much-needed vacation with her three best friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Clockwork's living her best life, which is mostly just working herself to death. Cue the midlife crisis and a much-needed vacation with her three best friends.**

**This fic was born out of a desire of my favorite time master taking a vacation(and subsequently adopting a baby alligator for _some _reason) and a desire to work on my dialogue/banter and make it more natural. So please give feedback! **

**disclaimer: nah.**

* * *

"You should take a vacation," Pandora says as she applies a coat of nail polish on Clockworks nails. Said Time Master attempts to wave her off with a dismissive hand before the Goddess of Hope prompts her hands back down.

"I will," Clockwork says as she inspects her hand, "In a-"

"Year or two." Nocturne finishes for her, jutting his lips out in annoyance at his overworked friend. "You've been saying that since you've taken this job."

"Well obviously, I've been busy." Clockwork replies, taking a quick glance at Dan peacefully playing Smash Bros Ultimate, she teasingly snarks "Have fun losing to Wario."

Dan doesn't say anything back, only flipping her off before he returns to playing.

Nocturne glares at her, "I know what you're trying to do, it's not going to work." He grits out between his teeth. He's known Clockwork far too long and the games she plays. "Pandora," comes the whiny drawl, "Help me out here."

Pandora continues to paint Clockwork's nails while she speaks. "As the humans say it, I am going to shoot straight from the hip. You need a vacation and you know it. Clockwise never wanted you to work yourself like this. He would have made you take a long vacation by now and take care of _yourself._ Do you think he'd be proud of his little timepiece killing herself like this? Do you think he wanted this for you?" She pauses as she dips in the bottle for more nail polish.

"It's not like I've tried that before." She grouses, carefully looking away from Pandora. "She senses how her friend carefully squeezes her hands and attempt to joke it off. "I mean I'm still here arent I?"

"For how much longer?" Pandora asks, "How much longer until you fade out from this stupid _fucking _job with unapproving, ungrateful bosses? From not caring about yourself?"

"I'll take one eventually."

Both Pandora and Nocturne call her out on her bullshit. "Liar."

The three are now at an awkward silence and both fortunately and unfortunately, Dan has the uncanny ability of breaking such silences with the most uncomfortable questions.

Such as right now.

"Who's Clockwise?" He asks, apparently having only tuned in for that part of the conversation.

"No one." Clockwork forces out through her teeth. "Go back to playing your game."

Dan puts his hands in the air in faux innocent. "No need to get touchy princess, I just asked a simple question." He points out unhelpfully, either not noticing or simply not caring about how Clockwork's body tenses up or how her hands shake furiously. "Don't take your anger out on me because your pals are telling you what you needed to hear."

Before she thinks she blurts out, "Did you listen to Sam and Tucker before you decided to cheat on the CAT and cheat them out of their lives?"

As soon as Dan's face pales to a ghostly white, she shoots a hand over her mouth to prevent more of her vindictiveness from spilling out.

Shes broken one of their unspoken yet most sacred rules: _Never use the IncidentsTM_ _to hurt each other. _

There is no chance to say sorry before Dan teleports away from the three.

Pandora and Nocturne turn and face the Time Master, who immediately shrinks in on herself from misery and guilt.

She's in for it now.

* * *

After a lengthy lecture from her two best friends about how its absolutely not okay to hurt her friends like that- She used to think that her father would be the only one in her afterlife to bring her to tears with his "I'm disappointed in you" lectures, she was proven utterly wrong tonight-Clockwork begins her search to find Dan.

To her surprise, it doesn't take her long to find him as he's sitting on top of the Citadel. She floats up to where he is and stealthily tries to sit right next to you.

"I can sense you, you know," Dan says, effectively throwing out any pretense of stealth. He gently pats an empty spot next to him, silently inviting Clockwork to sit down next to him.

She does so, ready to apologize to him but before she does so, Dan holds a hand up to stop her. "It just threw me off because it came from _you_ of all ghosts. I expect that from the Observants but not you," He says, "I don't really want an apology from you. " He doesn't bother looking at Clockwork to know that she's visibly distraught. "You feel bad about it and that's fine with me? Not to say that I'm okay with you beating yourself up about this, ya know? You just don't like making people sad and you have a really terrible habit of apologizing for everything that's wrong even when it's not your fault and you have an awful habit of making yourself seem more of an irredeemable ghost when you make a shitty mistake?" Dan rambles, hands awkwardly gesturing as he tries and fails to make his point. "You're fine and I forgive you. That's what I'm trying to get at with this."

Suspicious, "Just like that?" She asks out of uncertainty.

"Just like that." He repeats after her.

"That's impossible." She sputters out, "Forgiveness isn't that easy."

"Right now it is." Dan asserts.

"Not as far as I know." She says softly, staring at her gloved hands blankly.

Dan raises an eyebrow at her, not liking the various implications of that statement. "I'm not sure what you mean by that and I don't think I'm going to like what that means when I do find out. For now, let's go back inside and watch The Office. It's chilly out here."

"I thought you don't get cold easily." She says dumbly.

"You're right, I don't. You do, on the other hand, Princess." He points out, noting how she's trembling from the chilly air outside the Citadel. "Also, it's a crime for you to be out here with your nails halfway finished."

* * *

Currently, Clockwork is watching the time streams. Theres nothing particularly interesting or anything that catches her eye. She looks over to see Dan buried underneath a blanket, somewhat halfway asleep.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Dan's sleepy, half lidded eyes slowly snap over to her. He takes a second to focus his eyes and attention on her before he smartly replies, "You already did Honey-bunny but go ahead."

"If you could go anywhere-"

"NASA."

"You didn't let me finish my question."

"I already knew what you were going to ask." Dan says, "I love NASA, I'll gladly kill an Observant to go there."

"I might just let you at some point," She jokes, smiling at how Dan's eyes glow dangerously at the thought of his wishes finally coming true. "Not today though." The warning comes right as he eyes his clawed hands and starts to sharpen them.

Over exaggerating his disappointment, he throws a hand to his forehead, pretending to faint. Dan cracks an eye open to see if he manages to get a chuckle from the Time Master, instead seeing a hesitant smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

He'll take it.

Turning over, Dan asks "Where would you go?"

"...I don't know."

* * *

"Can we watch Endgame?" Nocturne begs, his voice taking on a God awful, unnaturally high pitch whine, similar to a crying dog. As Clockwork fixes a strong glare at the dreamer, it only fuels him more, "Please?"

"It's the only one we haven't seen yet," Pandora adds on, pulling Dan close to her chest. Silently, she cues him to pull his puppy eyes.

Clockwork wonders to herself if the puppy eyes to _help_ their begging. Right now, Dan's face is pinched tightly as if he ate three large lemons and several plates of Fenton Toast.

"You can't say no to this face!" Dan exclaims, words slurring from Pandora accidentally squishing his cheeks in an odd attempt to sound more childish.

Is it working? Clockwork doesn't think it's hard to make someone childish any more childish than they already are.

Eyebrow arched, she slowly enunciates "No."

Carefully, she watches her friends faces fall before they bicker and complain. "I have paperwork to do, unlike some of us." She grounds eye, aiming her stink eye at Nocturne, grumbling nonsensically about how paperwork was boring.

"You always do it at the last minute," Pandora says. "Come watch Endgame with us."

"I don't like Endgame. It's boring, the score's flat, the ending is underwhelming." Clockwork explains as she lists off all of the things she doesnt like with the movie. "I want 2012 Avengers and Shawarma back."

"2012 Avengers are dead and they're never coming back."

"No," she begins, "They were dusted. Besides, Endgame isn't canon."

"Then what's canon?" Dan asks.

"Anything that Marvel doesnt mess up horribly."

"If you sit through this 3 hour of a snoozefest with us, favorite snacks included, you can watch whatever you want no questions asked." Nocturne offers.

Pretending to mull it over, "Anything?" Nocturne nods. "Fine, let's get it started."

Ignoring Pandora, Dan and Nocturne's victory high fives, she shouts, "I'm only doing this for food. I hope you know this."

"Whatever!"

* * *

Whenever the Observants come, Clockwork knows it's best to clear her schedule for the rest of the day. Her employer's words are cruel, cutting and vindictive to the heart she so proudly wears on her sleeves, she doesn't bother trying to force herself to observe the time streams after a visit from them. It leads to more mistakes and more cruelty she's become used to.

"Are you even listening?" Observant 1 harps, squinting its eye in annoyance.

"I am." She answers dejectedly, resting an arm on her staff and slightly buries her face into it. (Sometimes she fools herself into thinking she's huddled into her father's warm and portly arms, shielding her from these clods.) "I just think it's wrong to doom an entire timeline because a few people have the capacity to commit terrible evil. There's always a chance they can do amazing things."

Observant 2's cloak bristles angrily, "You're not seeing what we see!"

"That's kind of my job." Clockwork says truthfully. "If we did everything your way, no one would be alive.

"Then maybe they shouldn't be. The world would end in chaos anyway-"

The Time Master groans in frustration. "No, it wouldn't you obtuse eyeballs."

"-just look at Phantom over there!" One of them gesticulates over in Dan's direction.

"I've done nothing wrong this time around, keep my name out of your mouth, you goddamn reject Mike Wasoki's." snaps Dan, narrowed eyes slowly sliding over to the two Observants. "There are ghosts here that trying to be productive, that's your cue to get out."

"What are you going to do about that _thing's _existence_?"_ She knows from countless arguements about Dan that they expect her to erase his existence but she knows that she will never be able to raise a hand to do something soo heinous and inhumane against someone she considers a friend.

Raising an eyebrow in faux innocence, "Oh Dan? He's his own ghost who's free do to as he pleases."

"Are we starting with this insolence again from the same girl who constantly makes the same mistakes over and over again with so much blood on her hands-

"Because you **threatened **me." Clockwork hisses.

"A broken condom who got her father killed, who has proven herself time and time again to be a worthless burden and a waste of everyone's time and resources."

Their words break through the heart she wears on her sleeve. She senses her eyes tearing up and she aggressively wipes her face into her sleeve as to not give them the satisfaction. "We all know what I am, no need to bring it up again." Her voice remains strong but she remains well aware that by the time her employers leave, she'll be a broken mess of guilt and desperation. "There's a door for you to observe. I have work to do."

"You can ask that more politely." 1 snips, its voice scratchy with spite. "Your father raised you with manners, _didn't _he?"

_'Are they serious?'_ Clockwork thinks to herself; seeing that the two still floating in her tower, she sees that they are indeed serious. Repressing a sigh, "Can you-"

_plop!_

One of the observants keels over, its hands covering its eye in what Clockwork assumes to be pain with Dan sitting where he was proudly holding a Nerf gun. He aims it at the other one, ready to shoot again if need be.

"She said get out." Dan warns, voice low and dangerous, teetering on the edge of mania. "I have more where that came from if you don't leave now."

Deeply disturbed by Dan's threat, the two superiors vanish away from the citadel.

"You okay there?" Dan asks.

It takes her a second to process what just happened. Once she does, she slowly sinks to the floor, legs splaying on the floor, hood covering her blotchy face as her breath quickens too quickly for her liking. The floorboard blurs and then she sees black and is pulled towards something soft and warm.

"It's not true what they said about you." She recognizes Dan's voice and offhandedly wonders that he has never been this soft with her. His arms are tight around her with no way to escape. Of their own accord, her arms wrap themselves around him, pulling her closer into the comforting hug. Her shoulders tremble, she bites her tongue to keep her cries down with slow and shallow breathing.

Clockwork was never a fan of breaking in front of others.

Running his fingers through her unruly hair, Dan whispers, "It's okay to let go."

"I'm fine." Clockwork whispers back.

"You're a terrible liar."

On the contrary, no she's not.

* * *

Hunger is a very fickle thing with the Time Master. Very rarely is she a ravenous woman, hungry enough to scarf down anything in her line of sight and more often than not, she's a reef shark who eats very infrequently and opportunistically.

On most days it's difficult to get her to eat a proper meal.

That's what Dan would say if he hadn't figured a way to get Clockwork to eat a meal or two. With a white plastic bag full of food in his hand, he slowly tiptoes towards the preoccupied Time Master, grateful that she's so consumed with her current project that she doesn't notice him.

Dan postures himself right next to Clockwork, clearing his throat and offering the bag of food to her. She suppresses a flinch as she turns around to see what he wants, pleasantly surprised by the food he held out for her. Slowly, she takes the offered food before Dan stops her, "How about we eat outside away from this stuffy citadel you call home?"

She shrugs, summoning two bags next to her. "Okay."

A toothy smile rewards her as Dan opens a portal to a grassy field where the stars hang over them. The two sit down to eat their meal in much deserved peace, merrily chatting about nothing in particular.

Moon hanging above them, its milky light illuminating Clockwork's skin and warm smile she shines at Dan. "Thank you." She says, eyes glimmering with sincerity in the moonlight.

Dan nods, happy that he was the reason she smiles this time around. "We'll do it again tomorrow night."

"Why don't we do it every night?" Clockwork answers cryptically, her gaze transfixed on the empty and open field.

"What do you mean?"

Clockwork doesn't immediately respond, instead, she gives him a large rucksack. "Let's leave."

"What do you mean _leave?"_ asks Dan. "Where would we go?"

Turning her head around to face him, he can see the slightly manic look in her eyes. "Somewhere, anywhere. As long as you're willing to come with me."

"Okay."

* * *

**I think this might be one of my favorite fics to work on. I crave validation, so if you like it, validate me by dropping a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for taking so long to update with another chapter! I wanted to make it longer, but couldn't figure out a way to do so without making it feel unnatural, so I declared this chapter finished but didn't post it because of things going on. **

**Chapter 2 Summary: Clockwork vacation begins and there's some uncertainty about it but luckily for her, she can always rely on Jazz.**

**disclaimer: nuhuh.**

* * *

Clockwork wakes up when the sunlight hits her face. She slowly sits up and attempts to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes, only to be unsuccessful. Clockwork begins to stand up but a hand catches her wrist and gently pulls her back down into the pillowy mattress.

"Go back to sleep," Dan whispers sleepily as he drapes his arm over her stomach and pulls her closer to him. "It's too early."

Clockwork buries herself in his side, pulls the blanket back over them and goes back to sleep.

When she truly wakes up, she wakes up to the smell of pancakes and eggs wafting throughout the small hotel room and Dan's content humming while he cooks. Stretching out in the bed, she rolls in the blankets, wrapping herself in the blanket's warmth before it seeps out and becomes a cold lump of sadness.

She feels a hand rest on her arm, gently shaking her. Clockwork turns her head to see Dan sitting next to her holding two plates of food.

"I can't eat all of this by myself," Dan says.

"Sure you can." Clockwork teases as she sits up, still huddled in the blankets. She grabs the bottle of syrup, pouring it over her pancakes and eggs, and began eating.

After a few bites, "This is really good!"

Dan waves her off dismissively, "All I did was follow a recipe, anyone can do that."

"Not everyone. Where'd you get the food?"

"There was a grocery store a few blocks away," Dan answers, shoveling eggs into his mouth. "Went in, got some stuff, walked out and no one saw me."

"You mean you _stole _it." Clockwork says with a glower.

"Being the harbinger of the apocalypse doesn't really bring in an income, you know." Dan snarks, waving his fork around emphatically. "It's not like you're drowning in money either."

"Correction, I am 'drowning in money.'" She says.

"How much?"

"Quite a bit."

"Cheesehead rich?"

"...Richer. I could essentially crush capitalism and make the US dollar absolutely worthless if I felt like it." She says, ruthlessly stabbing some of her pancakes. "I could have given you a debit card to pay for it."

"You don't have one."

"Didn't." Clockwork corrects, "I got one after our midnight talk about NASA. I've been thinking about doing this since that night."

"I just wanted to be nice and surprise you with breakfast." Dan grumbles, deep frown lines creasing on his forehead. "It wasn't supposed to end with you lecturing me about my morals."

Gently, Clockwork puts her fork down and leans in to hug Dan. "It was great and I liked it. Thanks."

The sudden skin on skin contact causes Dan's cheeks to flush a dark green, and he awkwardly returns the hug before pushing Clockwork off of him. "It's whatever." He grouses, attempting to fight the pride and embarrassment that was stirring in his chest. "What do you want to do today nerd?"

"Watch cartoons?" Clockwork suggests, fishing around in her backpack to pull out her laptop.

"Amazing World of Gumball?"

"As if we would watch anything else!" Clockwork says with a smile, pulling hulu up and starting the episode. She leans back against the headboard and pats the empty spot beside her. Dan scoots back, leaning his body into hers, allowing himself to relax as he watches the episode.

* * *

They're currently out in the downtown area, venturing through the Square, exploring the small shops scattered throughout the downtown area.

Right now, she's out in the downtown area, venturing through the Square, three footsteps behind Dan as they explore the city and venture through the small shops scattered throughout the downtown. The two ghosts first stopped at an ice cream, each buying a pint of ice cream to slurp down on as they made way. No one mentions how Dan started a war on toppings when he 'accidentally' threw a handful of sprinkles at another customer and the eventual chaos that ensues afterwards. Surprisingly, they weren't banned from the ice cream shop(the workers wouldn't stop giggling at how two grown men wouldn't stop throwing sprinkles at each other) and got another helping of ice cream.

Dan vehemently denies that he started 'The Topping Wars', as civilians called it, just to get Clockwork smiling as that is absolutely absurd and he doesn't _need_ to make people happy...but it did make his day when she starts spiraling into a raucous laughter with other customers.

With two generous helpings of ice cream, they end up at the local park full of small children playing with their parents. Dan and Clockwork end up under a secluded tree away from the families and he pulls out a small picnic blanket with food. He sets it up in relative silence, upon finishing, he smirks smugly as he presents the Time Master her surprise picnic.

"Is this what I had to do to be pampered?" Clockwork teases, a coy smile stretching across her face as she reaches out for some grapes and pops one in her mouth.

"Don't read too much into it," Dan grouses, fixing himself a salad. "It's a nice day outside,, can't we just enjoy our picnic without you making it weird?"

"I'm not the one who's making it weird," Clockwork snarks, grabbing some whip cream laying next to a pie, spraying it into her hand and smacks Dan's cheek, giggling when the whip splatters everywhere. "Enjoy the picnic, you idiot."

His heart flutters when he hears her giggle, he hides the smile that was about to bloom, licks the whip cream off his face and digs into his salad.

* * *

There's something gnawing at Clockwork's stomach for the past few days and she can't really figure out what it is exactly that's causing it. She tries to pass it off as jitters, hunger, getting a proper sleep schedule, everything that was in the realm of blaming but it didn't make the crippling uneasiness and hollowness go away.

She would ask Dan how to make it go away but knowing him, he'd tell her to get a nerf gun and shoot her feelings away. She knows that's a censored version of what he really wants to do, it still wouldn't make this feeling go away.

Pandora and Nocturne didn't know about this so they were out.

At some point, she really did consider asking Danny and his friends but she writes it off since it would be weird to ask fourteen year olds how to deal with your problems.

_Jazz_, on the other hand, is perfect to talk about these things with. With great hesitation, Clockwork sends out a quick text 'i need advice'

Seconds later, ***okay. send a portal?***

Without thinking Clockwork opens a portal and Jazz Fenton steps through the portal.

"Hey," Jazz says, noticing the room, "Where are we?"

"Hotel," Clockwork answers nonchalantly. "It was the first place Dan and I lucked upon."

"Speaking of Dan, where is he?" Jazz says, sitting down on the bed.

"He's out, wouldn't tell me where." Clockwork says, sitting next to Jazz.

Straight to the point, "What's eating you Clockwork?" Jazz rests a hand on Clockwork's shoulder to ease the Time Master's anxieties.

"I work too much."

"Obviously," Jazz says, "Everyone's who ever known you has been telling you to take a vacation for forever."

Ignoring the sarcasm in her voice, Clockwork continues on, "So I take a vacation, I drop everything and leave my citadel behind. I'm sleeping more, i'm eating more, I'm _actually_ taking care of myself but nothing still feels right. I thought this vacation was suppose to fix things, so why don't I _feel_ better? Why am I still feeling empty?"

Jazz was quiet for a few minutes, mulling over what the Time Master just told her. "You're having an existential crisis." She explains, "Millenia of overworking yourself and not taking proper care of yourself really wears you down. This sudden, impulsive decision of deciding to take a vacation is proof of that. Like most people, you think doing simple 'self care' things like getting proper sleep, proper eating habits will automatically fix your problems and make you feel better but it's not going to."

"How long is it going to take for this feeling to go away?"

"I can't exactly say," Jazz starts off, "Since your issues are more deeply rooted with several traumatic events, it's going to take a longer time for you. Things like this aren't linear, and you shouldn't get angry with yourself for not being 'recovered' as quickly as you think you should be."

"What-"

Jazz holds a finger to quiet Clockwork, "In the meantime, learn how to relax. Learn to just be in the moment, and just be yourself. It's difficult, I know but if you want to have a good time on this vacation of yours, you have to do those things, understand?"

Slowly, Clockwork nods.

"Good." Jazz gives Clockwork a tight, warm hug before the Time Master opens a portal for the teen to go home.

"Think about what I said, it'll go a long way." Jazz says as she steps into the portal, the portal closing behind her.

Seconds after the portal closes, the door to the room opens and Dan steps through the door, holding up two ticket passes. "There's an indoor kart racing in the Metro. Wanna go?"

Jazz's word's echo in Clockwork's head, '_Learn how to relax. Learn to just be in the moment, and just be yourself' _and with a smile, "Yea, I just have to get dressed."

"Dress comfortably, we're doing quite a bit of walking," Dan warns, "Bring water too, it's pretty warm out."

As Clockwork goes to get dressed, she thinks that she's finally starting to learn how to relax.

* * *

**Please read and review!**


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